The present invention relates generally to flag accessories, holders and brackets, and more particularly, to a one-piece molded plastic holder used to display the smallest size flags, banners or pennants on computer monitors, cash registers, bulletin boards, interior or exterior walls or smooth surfaces and fabric coated partitions. During festive times and national holidays, it is desirable to display flags of many sorts. There are many various patents for flag holding devices, but most are for the standard 3′×5′ or 4′×6′ flags. Holders designed to display the smallest 4 inch by 6 inch flags have focused on a pedestal base to stand them on a table or counter surface and not a means to attach them to a wall or other upright position.
Various patents have proposed different methods of displaying flags by attaching them to flat surfaces, by means of drilling holes into the surface and attaching with screws or other fasteners. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,731 to Lach, describes a flag pole bracket which must be attached to a flat surface by means of screws. U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,856 to Neely & Shriner describes a rail bracket flag holder, but this application merely provides a base to attach a conventional flag holder with bolts and wing nuts. Other previous patents for flag holders include U.S. Pat. No. 466,960 to Bert & Widmayer, U.S. Pat. No. 1,053,255 to Ward, U.S. Pat. No. 1,198,840 to Hanck & David, U.S. Pat. No. 1,632,726 to Conklin, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,278 to Burke. A flagpole assembly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,608 to Burke also requires a bracket to be attached with screws to the desired surface.
In addition, flag holder patents include U.S. Pat. No. 2,322,600 to Stahler which requires the pointed end of the holder to be pushed into the ground for display and U.S. Pat. No. 2,298,744 to Liermann which requires the holder to be inserted into the sash of a window frame. U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,012 to Doublet describes a holder for displaying a flag on a table.
Other patents have been issued for devices which hold objects to flat surfaces, specifically pens or pencils. U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,066 to Luisi describes a mountable object holder attached by adhesive to an automobile dashboard. U.S. Pat. No. D 419,192 to Huang describes a magnet memo clip and pen holder which attaches to a ferrous surface. U.S. Pat. No. D 442,638 to Roush describes a hook and loop pen holder and U.S. Pat. No. D 441,021 to Roush describes a magnetic pen holder.
Patents which describe attaching objects to surfaces by using magnetic or adhesive backing include U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,933 to Lytle for a picture framing system and U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,715 to Werner, et al, for an article for framing a visual work. U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,271 B1 was issued to Adams for a magnetic hook or clip. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0064412 A1 by Piech describes a miniature pen with a holder that has an adhesive mounting strip.